Superb Smith fightback sinks Anderson at Players Championship 13

ProTour

Jun 12 2023

Michael Smith fought back brilliantly from 5-1 down to defeat his former mentor Gary Anderson and claim his first ProTour title of 2023 in Monday's Players Championship 13 final in Hildesheim.

2023 Betfred World Matchplay qualification race ahead of PC13-14

Betfred World Matchplay

Jun 09 2023

The race to qualify for the 2023 Betfred World Matchplay will continue at next week’s Players Championship double-header in Hildesheim.

2023 Players Championship 13-14 entries confirmed

ProTour

Jun 07 2023

Player entries have been confirmed for next week's Players Championship double-header in Germany, as the 2023 ProTour season continues in Hildesheim.

Clayton claims first Players Championship title in over two years at PC12

ProTour

May 21 2023

Jonny Clayton won a first Players Championship title in over two years in Leicester on Sunday, defeating Josh Rock 8-5 in the final of Players Championship 12.

Cross claims first title of 2023 in Leicester

ProTour

May 20 2023

Rob Cross secured his first PDC title of 2023 with an emphatic 8-3 victory over Mike De Decker in Saturday’s Players Championship 11 final in Wigan.

2023 Players Championships 11-12 entries confirmed

ProTour

May 16 2023

Player entries have been confirmed for this weekend's Players Championship double-header in Leicester, as the 2023 ProTour season continues in the East Midlands.

Players Championships to feature two additional streaming boards

ProTour

May 15 2023

Darts fans will be able to enjoy more action than ever before from Players Championship events, with two additional streamed boards broadcasting live matches from this weekend onwards.

Paul Nicholson: 2023 ProTour finalists reflect darts' global growth

Comment

May 11 2023

Former Players Champion and current darts pundit Paul Nicholson discussed how this year's ProTour finalists so far reflect darts' global expansion over the last two decades.

PDC Order of Merit changes following Players Championships 9-10

News

Apr 17 2023

Jonny Clayton has regained seventh spot on the PDC Order of Merit following last weekend's 2023 Players Championships 9-10.

Third title of 2023 for Van Duijvenbode with PC10 success

ProTour

Apr 16 2023

Dirk van Duijvenbode picked up a third PDC ProTour title of 2023 with victory in Sunday's Players Championship Ten in Wigan.

KRZYSZTOF RATAJSKI claimed his fifth PDC ranking title with an 8-7 victory over Dimitri Van den Bergh in Saturday's Players Championship 21 final in Hildesheim.

The Polish ace has made a big impact over the last 18 months, with his trio of 2018 titles now backed up by a second Players Championship victory of 2019.

He began the day with successive 6-2 victories, against Maik Kuivenhoven and Jonathan Worsley, and then saw off Gabriel Clemens and Conan Whitehead for the loss of just three legs.

He then came from 4-3 and 5-4 down to defeat Mickey Mansell in the quarter-finals, before racing past Danny Noppert with a 104 average in a 7-1 semi-final success.

The final proved a tougher proposition, with Van den Bergh twice leading by two legs only falter in a dramatic finale.

Ratajski opened the final with a 160 checkout for a 12-darter, but Van den Bergh took the next two to lead 2-1 and also held a 4-2 cushin.

Ratajski hit back to square the game in leg eight, only for the World Youth Champion to again establish a two-leg advantage at 6-4.

The Polish number one landed double 16 and then levelled by posting the bull to complete a 69 combination, before regaining the lead in leg 13 by punishing four missed doubles from his opponent.

Van den Bergh took out double 16 to take the game into a deciding leg, but was unable to check out 121 to allow Ratajski in to finish 82 on tops for the title.

Ratajski will now move into the world's top 32 for the first time, becoming the first Polish player to achieve the feat.

"I'm very happy," said Ratajski. "It was very tight and it was really, really hard.

"I played my semi-final against Danny Noppert and I had never beaten him, but today I played almost a 104 average and it was superb.

"In the final with Dimitri, I've also lost with him many times, and I thought about it. When I was 7-7, I said to myself that I must win. It's a very important result for me."

Van den Bergh saw off Joe Cullen, Rowby-John Rodriguez, Justin Pipe, Simon Whitlock and Ron Meulenkamp during the event, before coming from 5-1 and 6-3 down to win his semi-final with Ian White 7-6.

That fightback moved the Belgian into his second Players Championship final of the year, but he was agonisingly left waiting to claim his first senior title.

White was bidding to add to his two European Tour titles with a third victory of 2019, but had to settle for a semi-final place on Saturday alongside Noppert, who enjoyed his best result since February.

Michael Smith bounced back from last Sunday's defeat to Rob Cross in the Betfred World Matchplay final by reaching the last eight, alongside Premier League rival Suljovic

Mansell's run to the last eight saw him reach his first quarter-final since May 2018, while Meulenkamp fell just short of progressing to a fourth Players Championship semi-final of the year.

The PDC ProTour double-header at Halle 39 in Hildesheim concludes on Sunday with Players Championship 22, which will see a further £75,000 in prize money on offer.

Coverage from two boards simultaneously will be streamed through video.pdc.tv for all PDCTV-HD worldwide subscribers. Play will commence at 1200 local time (1100 BST).

See match stats with DartConnect at this link.

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